


The Last Party

by butterflycollective



Category: Beverly Hills 90210 (1990)
Genre: Family Secrets, Friendship, Horror, Multi, Sibling Rivalry, Teenage Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:20:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27539788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflycollective/pseuds/butterflycollective
Summary: The students at West Beverly are all excited about the upcoming party but will it be their last? What kind of secrets lurk in the shadows?
Relationships: Donna Martin/David Silver, Dylan McKay/Brenda Walsh
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Borrowing the characters for fun

Brenda sat under a tree eating her lunch. Her mom had gone all wholesome on her fixing her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and adding potato chips and some of her old fashioned oatmeal and raisin cookies. All to be washed down by one of those box shaped apple drinks.

God, how nostalgic could her mother get? She knew her mom refused to be all hip like Kelly's cool mama and had regressed to treating her like she were back in junior high. She couldn't be any more embarrassed than she was right now. Brandon, now their mom treated him as if he were actually 20 years old. He could work at the peach pit or in his new job as a male model for the spring line at some happening cloth horse store and he could stay out as late as he wanted. Smash a few cars, drink back some booze and their parents would always forgive him. Because it was never like him to act that way, they'd say in his and their defense. But what Jim and Cindy didn't know is that Brandon was spiraling deep into his dark side right underneath their roof.

Kelly breezed on by, flipping her sun drenched extensions back off of her face. God, she had the coolest mom in Jackie. Okay so she flipped out a couple of times…in public after getting high on a couple lines of coke in the bathroom but she dressed like the model she used to be and she acted like she was Kelly's best friend rather than her mama.

After Kelly sat down, Brenda put down her copy of Seventeen and looked at her best friend.

"What's up," Kelly asked, pulling out her celery sticks and mineral water. For her that'd be lunch until she dined on some pretzel sticks dipped in no-cal ranch dressing for dinner. She was on the perpetual diet yet she didn't have an ounce of fat on her. Brenda on the other hand had that Midwestern wholesomeness and a lot of her baby fat. She groaned about it constantly, after all when Dylan had said he preferred blonds over brunettes it had almost sent her over the edge.

His preference for skinny sticks with D cupped tipped her completely over it.

It had sent her to her room for an entire month, the last month of summer when the rest of her crowd had been surfing up the waves, soaking up the sun or partying up over bonfires, luaus or grunion runs at the local beach club. Brenda had fervently hoped that one of her friends would notice she hadn't been at any of these events and had tried to find out why, to comfort her, to convince her that she was their best friend forever. But her so-called friends were too busy having fun to bother. Kelly her BFF had stolen her boyfriend yet again. They had camped out on the beach together as if that hadn't already gotten so old. When Dylan hooked up with Kelly, he had no originality, no flair, nothing like when he'd been with her.

But she was so over him…if he wanted to cavort with Kelly or her ditzy friend Donna, then that would be good for Brenda. She'd find herself some nice older man, high school guys being too tame for her.

"I'm going to the party at Marlene's," Brenda said, "It's not your scene though Kelly."

Kelly pursed her ruby lips.

"How so Brenda…? You think I'm a bimbo or something?"

Brenda shrugged.

"You said it not me."

She had no feelings of forgiveness for the third or fourth time that Kelly had stolen Dylan from her. Not that she cared anyway. Dylan had no taste anyway so it didn't matter what he did now. Kelly's lips formed a pout.

"Brenda…you really aren't a nice girl at all…"

Brenda reached into her leather purse for a cigarette and lit it up. She blew out smoke rings savoring the nicotine as it raced through her system. God, she shouldn't have given up smoking so quickly after returning from Paris. She wanted to be so hip like when she posed as that French girl…leading on that hot guy until he wound up in Beverly Hills of all places.

So busted was she...next time she'd pretend to be an Italian heiress.

She puffed her cigarette and Kelly just fanned the air.

"Bren…that's so disgusting," she said, "How could you do that?"

Brenda blew out another series of smoke rings.

"All the women in Paris who are anybody smoke," she said, "Kelly I never knew you to be such a prude."

Kelly just laughed in response.

"Me a prude…? I didn't wait until my prom night to lose it."

Brenda thought, lose what and then she remembered which made her blush a little. She had thought back then that Dylan had been all that but she'd been so wrong about him. Her father had been right though she'd never admit it.

At least not out loud.

David had ditched Scott convincing himself that he didn't need a loser friend like the nerd gone country hick and except for the crocodile tears he had shown when Scott blew a hole inside himself; he didn't give him another thought. Once Steve, Kelly and the gang had let him hang on their fringes, he hadn't needed his old life.

He was in! He could go to all the hot parties and hang out with all the cool people. He could flirt with Donna at least until she told him she didn't plan to bed any guy except her husband. She was a good Catholic girl. So he promised eternal devotion to her and then he went and got hot and heavy with some groupie. Not that he felt guilty, it was Donna's fault for insisting on carrying her V card. He was a guy after that and that meant he needed some serious action.

Brandon saw him walking down the hallway. He'd been hooked up with some wigged out chick with bleached blonde hair named Emily Valentine who now spent her days and nights looking at four padded walls.

"Brando what's going on?"

Brandon sighed.

"I have to finish the editorial for the paper or Andrea will be on my ass."

David smiled.

"I thought she and Steve…"

"No she kicked him to the curb," Brandon said, "after he got drunk and threw up on her shoes."

David winced. Stevie had always been known as wanting to be the liveliest dude at every soiree. The gang had gone to one at a mansion in Hancock Park where the booze had been flowing like a waterfall and every nook and cranny of the house had been used by guests. Steve had nixed the bongs and had headed to the watering hole but he'd imbibed too much and when he'd tried to take Andrea on a spin on the dance floor under the disco ball…he'd suddenly retched and hurled everywhere including her shoes.

She'd stormed out on him not long after that. She wrote an article about the entire incident that had been on the front page of a special edition of the Beverly Hill Blaze. She cozied up with Gil the advisor which had everyone talking in the hallways and Mrs. Teasley a bit concerned but everyone knew that Andrea didn't do anything being a goody goody.

"I'm thinking of asking Donna to the party," David said, "I might get to DJ if I can find the right connections…"

Brandon nodded.

"Good one dude," he said, "Have you seen Dylan?"

David nodded.

"He was in the hallway with Kelly," he said, "Brenda saw them and they had a fight. I wouldn't want to be in the same room with the three of them."

Brandon shrugged.

"I need to know if he's going surfing in the tournament at the pier on Sunday," he said, "I was thinking of waxing up a board and trying it myself."

David knew that Brandon was always successful at anything he tried, in fact more so than anyone else. Dylan should be worried right now, very worried but not much fazed him when he managed to stay on the wagon.

"I think you should go for it," he said, "Just don't tell Dylan. He might go on another bender."

Brandon sighed, not wanting to be enslaved by the tortured soul that was Dylan. He thought he whined too much, the guy had everything, a rich father and an absent mother, he was unsupervised most of the time and could do whatever he wanted, when he wanted.

Oh if he could have that kind of life, but no he was destined to spend his summers being a cabana boy at a beach club and a waiter at the Peach Pit the rest of the year. Nat had forgiven him for bailing on him and he'd made enough money to buy a hip stereo system for his Mustang.

David sighed.

"He just got out of rehab again," he said, "and you know Kelly's going to send him into another spiral."

"You don't suggest that he get back with Bren do you? He nearly ruined her life."

David didn't know how to answer that question. Besides he had to run off and DJ the intercom system for the remainder of the afternoon. He was on some accelerated program so he could complete four years of high school in six months to graduate with his friends.

He left to go find Donna and soon went outside where Brenda and Kelly were eating lunch. But what he didn't know is that he was being followed by someone who looked at all the teenagers kicking back and relaxing and vowed one thing.

If they attended the next party they were all going to die.


	2. Chapter 2

Brandon had never been wrong about anything in his life. Not ever ever and never about another person as well. He just was right about everything and everyone knew it.

Well almost everything. He hadn't been exactly right about Emily Valentine who'd been his true love until she spiked his drink with Euphoria and then when he got upset and took a timeout, started stalking him. But when it finally dawned on him who had been calling his home phone all the time, he'd figured it out.

But aside from that, he'd always been right, was right now and would always be right in the future along as he stayed away from his own Valentine's Day massacre. He was friends with everyone, everyone liked him or they would and by the way he had plenty of black friends, Latino friends and Asians too, he just didn't remember who any of them were once he taught them how wrong they were to be offended by any of his actions or his words and just needed to take a chill pill.

"Why can't we all just get along," Brandon warbled during one near riot at a student dance as David channeled his Eminem during his latest quest for a recording contract.

He was almost president of the student body…twice. But some nerdy kid who actually had done homework on the issues had shown him up in a debate and he had no choice but to back out of the election…because he was Brandon or Bran the Man as he'd been called. Just like his sister Bren had joined a crisis hotline and from the first night knew what to do like Dr. Phil, well both of the wonder twins were just gifted that way.

But Brandon was cross right now. He'd almost lettered in basketball, track and field before school-wide scandals had distracted him but he had his heart on joining the water polo team. Steve who was the jock of West Beverly High even without the steroids had just laughed at him saying he didn't have the body to pull it off.

"Walsh, face it you don't tan and you can't bench press more than 80 pounds."

True, but that wasn't Brandon's fault. He knew he could do it just like everything else. He was Bran the Man remember…and if Dylan had gone off the wagon yet again, he could one up him on that by getting smashed and taking Mondale…wait the Mustang out for a spin before wrapping it around a light pole. No one could play the tortured soul card better than he could but keeping up with Dylan's demons was just getting old fast.

Dylan had been out of rehab only a week after his coke binge with Kelly's mom who was also back drying out at an exclusive resort and spa. Kelly had taken him back after a single tantrum being totally understanding of him and the illness that gripped him. It wasn't his fault anymore than it had been her mothers and he'd stay clean and sober if only he was with the right girlfriend.

Brenda had pushed him over the edge with her incessant whining over stupid things like nearly getting blown away by a gun toting robber, a pregnancy scare that she probably overreacted over and Kelly would bring him back to the light. That's what she'd told Brandon when she wasn't flirting with him and it had just gone in one ear and out the other because after all, he had more important things to do like write an expose on the car wash held by the women's swim team.

He walked the hallway and he saw David coming down the hall and he didn't feel like dealing with that wannabe today so he headed in the opposite direction.

Donna didn't get into the high school being out of district like Andrea and she didn't buy her way into like Steve did but she had this famous daddy who was like mayor of Beverly Hills when he wasn't treating patients as a doctor. Most people think that's why despite her barely passing grades and her overall dimwittedness that's how she got into West Beverly.

No she'd protest, I simply filled out the forms as Donald Martin and wore a pantsuit. They totally let me in on my merits which include impeccable fashion sense, a wholesome attitude and a hot looking body that was God given despite what those hallway harpies said. That's what she told anyone who called her on it in between classes or at the mall. But she had promised her parents and God she'd keep her V card until she was married and she found that more difficult when she realized that she had eschewed the jocks that wagered over it and had fallen for a nerd.

She hadn't fallen into serious like with David overnight…it had just kind of happened. He was kind of cute though his hair was some retro style and his clothes needed some work and real sweet. At least when he wasn't trying to get into her pants…when she'd told him about her eternal pledge to stay pure he'd been very understanding about it and hadn't pushed her like all the other guys.

But trouble lurked. Because despite what everyone said, he couldn't be canoodling with Sue in between classes. Donna thought she had gotten rid of Scott's sister but Sue had returned to school after a stint in a padded cell at the same place as Emily Valentine. She looked hot too, with sun kissed blonde hair that must have cost a fortune, a curvier body and a mind for David. She always sought excuses for him to "help" her with something like zipping up her dress or helping her put one of her contacts back in her eye.

Bullshit, Donna would have called her on it but she didn't use those kinds of dirty words. They might put ideas in her head and trigger her libido which was already barely sheathed by her conscience. Like right now…there was David in the radio DJ station with Sue sitting on his lap! How dare that bitch…oh did she just think that, how about witch… come on to her almost man like that!

Donna thought of just going in there and ripping her hair out and slamming her on the ground but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. So instead…

"Bren…Kelly…I need my friends' shoulder to cry on…like now…"

She had to go find them and while doing that she missed the mysterious figure standing in the hallway.

Andrea could never get any and it just drove her nuts. She'd propositioned Brandon once when he'd been about to leave her world forever to go back to Minnesota forever. Okay that crisis like the rest turned out to be short-lived but he'd never looked her way again.

So she wasn't a bleach blonde bimbo with D cups and legs that went on forever like the ones he favored these days and she'd never be caught dead in a bikini like Kelly or Donna who had this thing about showing off her tanned belly even in the winter time. They had money to spend on stylish threads and boob jobs while Andrea had to spend all of her time volunteering for the needy to spiff up her resume for Yale. But damn it she wanted to get the same action that everyone else at least talked about getting. She didn't want to be…a careful whisper…a V for ever.

Kelly had told her that she totally needed to change her look and get some better under things if she was ever going to attract a boyfriend. But between studying for tests, practically doing the newspaper by herself and intertwining her work as a crisis counselor with her leading youth programs who had the time? She didn't smoke anything, didn't booze up and kept the provocative dancing to a minimum.

"Hey Andrea you look pretty this morning…"

She looked up as Steve breezed by. She had only recently started lusting after him while trying to sleep at night or sit through another boring trig lecture. Far from being shallow like she assumed, a jock without a brain she had seen a whole different side to him recently and with a body like he had from sports, the rest didn't matter anyway. She was thinking about approaching him with what the experts in various women's magazines and journals called "friends with benefits" notion since Brandon just wasn't ever going to look at her that way.

They'd definitely have to go to his place, an opulent mansion because doing it on her grandmother's couch just wasn't practical.

"Thanks Steve…you look…"

As usual words failed her and she just looked down at her hefty load of books.

"You are going to that real happening party?"

Was she? No she didn't think so…she usually was the only one in the gang that never showed up at parties. She was surprised she didn't end up like Scott but she didn't play with guns.

"No….I got to study."

He crinkled those baby blue eyes at her and she nearly melted.

"Oh come on Andrea, you know what they say all work and no play…"

She sighed.

"Makes an honors student on her way to Yale with a full ride and not someone working at McDonalds while putting themselves through JC…"

"Ah Andrea, why don't you just come for a little while," he said, "You might like it…I know underneath that nerdish exterior lies a party girl."

Andrea didn't know whether to feel flattered by his attention or horrified by the picture he painted of her. She'd worked hard in therapy to keep that other side of her tightly under wraps. Not that the gang knew about it because she'd been too embarrassed to tell them. If anyone ever found out what she'd done the last weekend of that summer camp she'd worked at as a youth counselor…they'd never look at her the same way again.

No she couldn't let anyone know her secret; she had an image to maintain as the smartest, greatest student in the entire school. Anything to make her feel a bit less like an imposter, someone who was living a lie…

Brenda ditched Kelly the first chance she got and decided to cut classes to go hang out with some arty friends at the interpretative art museum. That scene was just so much more real than anything at school. She thought herself much better than those around her, much smarter, more hip, more steeped in culture.

She'd really grown up since she broke up for Dylan for what would really be the last time. Kelly could have him, really she was so over angst filled teenaged types in leather jackets who lived off trust funds. So she hotwired her brother's car and she took off down to West Hollywood to go to this new exhibit that her latest BFF Blue Oyster Pearl was showing which was not only brilliant but was edgy even though she didn't completely get it.

But as she pulled onto the side street, she had no idea she was being followed.


	3. Chapter 3

Brenda got to the swanky art gallery where artists hung up their paintings on display or erected their sculptures some of which were difficult to interpret. She knew that was all part of living life on the edge…of expressing one's self artistically against all the rules.

If only she had the courage to take that final step. Yeah she'd tossed her high school equivalency exam during her foray on the artistic side a while back but she could always fetch another one. Yeah her parents would freak, her father would threaten to ground her again but once her mind was made up, she'd drop out of high school, get an apartment and live life on her own terms.

Blue Oyster Pearl decked out in multi-colored leather and wearing thigh high tights waltzed on over showing off her six inch heeled boots. She wore a beret and a necklace of ostrich feathers around her neck.

"Hi Bren…that's your name right? Welcome to the gallery…you're an artist right?"

Brenda walked on over to the bar to get a mineral water with lime.

"Yeah…I want to be but my parents aren't cool with it. When will they understand that I'm almost grown up and I need to have a life of my own…"

"When you can pay your own way…or get better at sponging off of them," Blue Oyster Pearl said, "I just got a wad of cash from my parents today…to buy a new brush collection for my paintings…see there's one hanging on over there."

Brenda looked at the garish painting of a tormented soul surrounded by various hues of dark blue and purple.

"It's my mauve period," Blue Oyster Pearl said, "Like that Picasso guy."

Brenda didn't get it but that wasn't the point. She wanted to be just like her new BFF and live a life on her own, of engaging in artistic and cultural pursuits and having meaningful conversations with people more grown up than her high school friends.

She wandered the hallways of the gallery milling with people she felt kinship with realizing it a much better afternoon than spending it languishing in trig class or lounging out under the trees in between classes watching Kelly and Dylan make out.

Her girlfriend returned to introduce her to two of her friends from an eclectic collection.

"This is Fawn Lilith and Huckleberry Zen…they are both more into interpretive art."

Brenda gathered that by their elaborate costumes and their made up faces. Fawn looked at her a bit bored.

"Are you still in high school dear?"

Brenda nodded.

"Not for long…I'm going to bail the first chance I get," she said, "as soon as my parents sign my emancipation slip."

They both nodded more approvingly and she knew that she'd found favor with them and maybe the whole artsy crowd.

That's when she saw the handsome stranger standing at the end of the aisle who took her breath away and caused time to stand still.

Kelly sighed, as she rested her head on Dylan's chest. They were sprawled on the lawn at West Beverly High listening as Donna told them the latest plans for the hottest party ever.

"It's going to be so rad," Donna said, "a life band, catered food from California Pizza Kitchen and the pool's going to be lit up like a rainbow."

Kelly yawned. So been there, done that in her brief life as a child of a coke snorting ex-model and groupie of more rock bands than she could count. Her mom, Jackie had been a legend in her day but had blazed out like a super nova after the booze and the drugs had finally taken their toll. She'd been in and out of rehab since and each time she came out, she acted as if she'd just been spending those weeks or even months away in a spa resort.

Oblivious to Kelly's painful remembrance, Donna prattled on.

"David's going to be the DJ and it's just going to be so hot."

Boring, hot to Donna was like someone spiking the punch at a sock hop. The girl still was as pure as a convent of nuns and Kelly wondered if that's where Donna would be heading after they all graduated from high school. She knew that David had tried to get past first base with her onto second but he'd been frustrated by Donna refusing to go any further with him.

Kelly knew because David's dad, the seventh most popular dentist in Beverly Hills had been going out with her mom who had just gotten out of rehab a few weeks earlier. She fervently hoped her mom would see the light that Mel's dullness but so far that just hadn't happened.

"Donna can you just shut up," Kelly said, "I have to hear enough about that oversexed nerd from Jackie and Mel."

Donna looked slightly chagrined and dipped her fingers into her bag of California rolls. She'd been on this diet since the latest rumors circulated about some plastic surgery she'd supposedly had during spring break. No such thing had happened, she'd just been grounded by her parents because they figured if she went with the gang to Palm Springs again, she'd be engaging in drunken orgies and just the thought of that nearly sent her mom down a flight of stairs.

She hadn't been planning any such thing. She'd just wanted to get away for a while. Do chaste things with David, wear unchaste clothing and hang out with her friends.

"You know David wants more than just pecks on the cheek Donna."

Kelly rolled her eyes whenever Donna detailed one of her outings with David. As if they could even be called dates….and she knew that Donna wouldn't be able to hang on to him because all David thought about when he wasn't DJing at school or some other gig was sex.

As soon as some other pretty young thing came along, he'd leave Donna in the dust and waltz off with a younger prettier model or maybe he'd go and find himself an older woman to tutor him in certain areas.

Donna sighed.

"I know but I made a promise before God and a priest that I wouldn't you know do it before I had a wedding ring on my finger."

"Is it binding?"

Donna looked puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"Donna, I think God will forgive you if you decide not to wait until you're 25."

Donna look horrified.

"Oh I'll find a guy to marry before that and he'll teach me what to do."

Kelly found her eyes rolling upward again. Someone had to kidnap Donna away from her straitlaced parents and show her that the life that she was missing.

Like what she shared with Dylan though judging from the snoring nearby, she guessed he'd nodded off to sleep. He had been surfing under the moonlight to catch the perfect waves off Venice Beach or so he told her but she found herself wondering if he spoke the truth.

Probably not…but she knew that she had what she wanted as long as she didn't ask any questions about what he did when he wasn't with her.

Brandon saw the police officers race through the hallway in riot gear. Andrea ran up to him.

"What's going on here?"

He didn't have a clue.

"I'm going to investigate," he said, "Maybe you'd better stay here."

That didn't go well with her. She got her hackles up.

"I'm going to go with you," she said, "They're heading towards the chemistry lab."

They sped off after the cops and Andrea wondered what it might be. As long as it had nothing to do with uncovering her own secret…


	4. Chapter 4

Brenda walked up to the edgy looking gent who smiled at her as she approached him. He looked at least 25 and had some tribal looking tats on his arm.

"Who are you?"

He just reached out to brush a loose tendril out of her face.

"I'm Cyrano Buick," he said, "I own this gallery…or I'm a partner in it anyway."

Brenda felt so impressed by that. She had just arrived about ten minutes ago and she'd already bumped into the gallery's owner.

"Wow…that's so impressive," she said, "I'd give anything to show some art here."

He looked at his well manicured nails.

"You paint, do sculpture or you into more expressive art?"

Brenda drew a blank.

"Huh?"

"What do you do that's artistic?"

She realized what he meant.

"Oh…I paint…well kind of," she said, "I took some art classes at summer school."

He pressed his palms together.

"I see…what kind of painting?"

"Huh…just painting…you know with brushes…"

"You use canvas?"

Brenda felt she was struggling with the curve here. She'd never gave it much thought what she did, just that when she felt undone by her alienation from the rest of her peer group, in between breakups with Dylan or just caught in the throes of PMS she turned to her paint kit. She'd tried using her walls as a canvas but her mom had balked at that.

"I use paper…does that make sense?"

He cast her an ironic look.

"Barely…it's crude but it'll do for a beginner."

She suddenly felt irate.

"Hey I'm not a beginner," she said, "I always wanted to be a painter and do landscapes in the South of France or from the top of the Eiffel Tower."

Cyrano didn't look impressed. In fact he looked bored with her already and only five minutes had passed. Damn him, damn them all for not fully appreciating her talents. Brenda felt like going to the bar and getting herself a wine cooler even though she wasn't legal. She could always fake it and try to blend in with the artsy crowd.

She had to find a crowd that would adopt her. It's not like she fit in with any of the registered cliques at West Beverly. That would leave her with Andrea and a handful of nerds, gothics and trashy chicks. No, rather than doom herself to that fate, she'd take her chances here.

Blue Oyster Pearl walked up to them.

"You found Cyrano," she said, "Don't you think he's a genius?"

Brenda drew another blank.

"I just met him…"

Blue Oyster Pearl grabbed Cyrano's arm but he quickly shook her off. She just rolled her eyes at him and wandered back to the bar. Brenda just looked at him.

"You don't seem very nice," she said, "Don't you like anyone else here?"

He shrugged.

"No…they are all posers using me to make a name for themselves."

That shocked her when he told her that.

"Posers?"

"Wannabes…pretenders…people without talent willing to prostitute themselves in many different ways…"

Brenda just listened to him. He clearly knew what he was talking about but he wasn't very nice…which just made her like him all the more. Dylan posed at being a bad boy, a tortured soul but was Cyrano the real thing?

She didn't know but she wanted to find out.

Brandon wished Andrea would stop following him down into the bowels of the main building at West Beverly. People might think that they were an item and it wouldn't be good for his image being Bran the Man.

Besides she totally wasn't his type. For one thing, she wasn't bleached blonde or at least honey shaded brunette. She didn't have a curvy figure with at least C cup breasts and a wasp like waist. She was too short and her hair too curly and the glasses…god she just would have to lose them.

So not cool and in line with his image but if anyone ever accused him of being biased, he'd just tell her how delusional she was acting. Brandon knew he was never wrong about anything. The rest of the world would just have to get used to it.

"Brandon wait up…"

Andrea panted along behind him. Never having embraced athletics or even exercise, she could barely keep up to him. But he had to hurry, he had to get the story and if necessary, he had to save a life.

"Damn I lost track of the cops," Brandon said, as he stopped holding his side.

It'd been a while since he'd gone undercover to expose any steroid abusers among the school's athletes or any out of district ringers who out dribbled him, out maneuvered, out ran and outscored him on the court or fiend.

"There they are…"

Andrea took off and this time somehow she left him in the dust.

"I think they're going to the labs."

Brandon remembered hearing from an anonymous source that some illegal drugs were being cooked in the chemistry lab but he just refused to believe it. Andrea would be more cynical but then she believed the worst about everyone anyway.

The two of them ran towards the chemistry and soon enough they saw some SWAT team members followed by what looked like the bomb squad and was that Mrs. Teasley overseeing the operation? Oh, Brandon knew he didn't want to be seen by her right now. He was on her naughty list because of his expose on grade fixing by the algebra teacher. But she'd just have to get over it.

Andrea just looked at Brandon. Her eyes wide behind her glasses.

"What's going on here," she said, "Another scandal in our midst? Why am I not surprised?"

He threw her a warning look.

"Shh…Mrs. Teasley will see us."

Andrea folded her arms.

"She's mad at you not me," she said, "I'll just go over there and interview her."

"Oh no you won't," Brandon said, "She'll know you're with me and give me a detention."

Andrea shrugged.

"Okay then you can do an expose on the rigors of going through study hall…it'll be a great page 3 story."

Brandon just looked at her, as if he were going to do any of that. They went to take a closer look and saw some cops dusting for prints while others tossed furniture about. The teacher wasn't inside the room.

Andrea started getting all excited.

"I knew there was an illegal drug operation going on in the labs," she said, "I just knew it."

Brandon sighed.

"Now Andrea we don't know that for sure…"

She looked so excited she could barely contain herself.

"Oh I do…I do… we know it's true and we'll write all about it."

Brandon shot a look over at Mrs. Teasley who sternly barked orders to the cops. He wasn't too sure about that.

Kelly roused Dylan after they evacuated the school and hundreds of stylishly dressed students came rushing out while calling and texting on their phones.

"God, what is going on here?"

David dropped on the grass next to her. She moved a couple more inches away from him.

"The school's been evacuated, probably a bomb threat."

Kelly looked annoyed.

"A bomb threat…how lame is that," she said, "Wait didn't Emily Valentine threaten to do that when she was writing all those sick letters?"

David slicked back his hair with a hand.

"She didn't mean it. She was insane. No, this is something else," he said, "My dad has a patient who's a big shot police commander. Maybe I can find out from him what this is all about."

Kelly mused, thinking Mel was just the lamest geek ever. She just couldn't believe Jackie liked him so much.

"That's doubtful…he's not very smart."

David's smile dimmed.

"He's the smartest dentist in Beverly Hills," he said, "and he knows all its secrets."

Kelly didn't doubt that a dentist wouldn't know a few of them but all of them? Where all the bodies were buried, she thought hardly. She looked into the crowd of students and she saw him.

The strange looking man just watched all of them before disappearing into the crowd again.


	5. Chapter 5

Brenda scowled when Brandon walked into their shared bathroom.

"I've got to brush my teeth," he said, "before I go and work for Nat at the Peach Pit."

She snarled at him.

"Oh so this is about rubbing in how you have a job and I don't?"

He just glanced at her.

"PMS got a hold of you Bren?"

Oh she hated him bringing that up…but no that was it. Jim and Cindy had decided against her going out to the Vibe, a new edgy club that had just opened up on the Sunset Strip. All of her new friends, Cyrano, Blue Oyster Pearl and others would be there and she so wanted to join them. Leave the world of her childish friends behind while she dressed all up and went to hang out with her intellectual equals.

"Brandon, you're hogging up the toothpaste and where's my razor?"

He just shrugged.

"Right where you left it…listen did mom seem overly distracted at dinner tonight?"

Brenda hadn't noticed but then most of the time these days she pretended she didn't have parents. If they couldn't be so mod like Jackie she didn't want to associate with them. Besides, they had always favored Brandon anyway. He smashed Mondale in a frigging drunk driving binge and he practically got a medal for admitting he messed up while she was grounded when they assumed she'd been shoplifting. Wasn't that like double standards or something?

She didn't know and she couldn't find her favorite leather mini skirt so she was in a foul mood. She left the bathroom after brushing up her hair into being twice as high to go find it. She located it in the closet and slipped it on, tugging it over her hips.

"Brandon have Kelly and Donna called?"

"Do I look like your secretary?"

Oh Brandon was just being impossible…so smart alecky, so obtuse…so Brandon. She just didn't know why her two besties had stopped talking to her. After all, they needed her to give them a mature perspective on topics. But then Kelly had stolen Dylan from her and Donna…she'd just been too pure to do anything fun. Her parents had really screwed her up bad. She'd been fantasizing about being a hooker like Julia Roberts in that movie and hanging out on Hollywood just so Richard Gere would pick her up. That was so not going to happen, after all it had happened to Brenda when she tried it.

Brenda went down the stairs and asked Cindy if they called and her mom shook her head no. She then narrowed her eyes when she took in Brenda's outfit.

"Is that what you're wearing?"

Brenda immediately got defensive.

"All my friends dress up like this when they go out."

Cindy looked confused.

"Kelly and Donna…I never…"

"No Mom, I mean my new friends," she said, "Blue Oyster Pearl and Fawn Lilith…"

She didn't feel like mentioning Cyrano yet. Cindy drew a blank

"Do I know them?"

Brenda just wanted to roll her eyes at her mom.

"No…I met them in the past few weeks," she said, "at the art gallery."

"Oh…well don't stay out too late," Cindy said, "Remember your curfew…"

God, how could she forget? None of her real friends had to abide by a stupid curfew.

"Yes mom," she said, "I'll see you later."

She left the house and took her mom's car. She nearly took out a couple of parked cars as she backed out of the driveway and then she swerved down the street.

Kelly and Dylan were parked at the lookout point near the Hollywood sign totally making out. He'd gotten this new convertible to add to his fleet and she'd been dying to go riding in it.

"Oh god…this is so intense," Kelly said, "the leather seats…the adjustable head rests…so hot Dylan."

She'd fallen in love with it. She was trying to figure out how she felt about Dylan. He just sighed as he watched her straddle him.

"I know…when I drove my hog past the lot, I knew I had to have her."

"Her? Dylan, it's a car."

He almost looked hurt.

"Not just any car and don't talk like that in front of her."

Kelly just pouted.

"Dylan are you in love with me or the car?"

He looked at her carefully.

"What about you," he said, "All you've been raving about since I picked you up was about how much you love the car. The upholstery, the seats…the clutch…"

She just rolled her eyes at him.

"Dylan…I would think that what I said would flatter you."

He got even more miffed at her.

"That you like my car better than you like me," he said, "I'm so wounded."

Yeah, Dylan was the most wounded soul in town, as he reminded everybody. But what about her…she had a pretty tortured existence herself. She had almost caught Jackie doing it with Mel on the couch when she walked in after school today and the image of them would remain forever etched on her brain.

So she'd been eager to leave the house with Dylan and now here they were, fighting about the damn car.

"Oh Dylan I love you…I like your car, why do you have a problem with that?"

He paused for a long time, the torment on his face spreading to his body which shivered. He'd been living on the edge so long that she feared he might topple into the abyss where he'd never see sunlight again.

"Dylan…"

He blinked his eyes.

"Oh I'm still here Kel… I was just thinking of the old man."

Meaning his father who had been in and out of prison the past few years…after a round of financial scandals broke putting his name on the front page of every newspaper in the country.

"What about him?"

Really hearing about Jack McKay bored her except she had to admit that he was pretty hot looking. The one time she'd seen him, okay she'd had a fantasy or two. When she'd been kissing Dylan, she'd seen for a brief moment, his father.

She kept that to herself of course and then one day, Jack had gone ka-boom.

"I miss him…why did he leave me?"

"He got blown up Dylan…it happens."

He digested that and for a moment, she thought she'd lose him again in this haze he put himself in even when he wasn't doing drugs.

"Oh…yeah…that but I was going through the storage facility to look for his record album collection…you know the oldies and I couldn't find them."

"Maybe he lost them."

"Maybe…or someone took them from the unit."

Kelly didn't know why someone would want a bunch of, LPs they were called right? But then Dylan's father had hung with a strange crowd. None of which had gone to his memorial service.

In fact they had all disappeared leaving Kelly and the others to pick up the pieces and she and Brenda had fought bitterly about who would do that.

Even coming to blows a few times…but when the dust settled, she, Kelly had won the prize and no one could take it away from her.

Donna just sat there with her legs closed. God, she couldn't believe David wanted her to go to third base with him. She had thought intensely of her rosary beads hanging from her shrine to the Virgin when he'd been kissing her mouth, stroking her bare skin with his hands and trying to get her to well, reach into his pants and touch him…there. No she could never, ever do that unless he was her husband.

"Touch me over my pants…"

His voice sounded urgent as if he were on fire but she shook her head fervently.

"No David…I told you I can't do that with anyone," she said, "it's a gift for my husband."

He scowled, obviously more than a little hot and bothered but she had to remain firm with him. She had chosen to remain pure not to please her parents as some of her friends thought but because she believed that it was something to do when she was married, end of story. Kelly said she just needed to drink a quart of Vodka go out and get laid already but though she'd been tempted to do just that once…maybe twice…maybe just five minutes ago, she knew she had to be true to herself and her pledge before God.

"Oh David, you don't know how hard this is for me."

He shook his head.

"No Donna you don't know the first thing about hard…"

She blushed at his reference knowing it wasn't entirely emotionally based but he just had to understand.

"If you really care about me…"

He stood up and paced the bedroom.

"Donna…if you really wanted to keep your V card, why are you sitting here wearing hardly anything…?"

Oh so not true, she thought, she wore a very tasteful two-piece lingerie set in her favorite color, white. Not to mention some sheer white thigh-his. How could he say such mean things to her? Her doe like eyes began to get teary and her mouth tremble.

"David…you're such a meanie…"

He sighed.

"Donna, you're just a tease and you're like a theater that never opens its doors."

She just pushed him off the bed and ran into the bathroom locking her door.

Outside the bedroom window, a stranger looked inside intently.


	6. Chapter 6

Brenda arrived at the club though she had a couple close calls with Jim's car on the way. Not her fault at all because the damn car didn't corner well on the sharp turns she had to make on some of L.A.'s streets. Sunset Blvd alone almost drove her nuts, leaving her to grip the steering wheel so hard her knuckles turned white. But she got to the most happening new alternative club in all of L.A. in one piece.

She parked it and walked past the bouncer who was a friend of Cyrano who'd put her on his "A" list. This guy must have so much pull in this city and she knew she just wanted to get to know him much better. If that meant doing it with him, then she'd worn her slinky outfit for a reason. She'd been so damn tired of being branded the good girl. It's not like she still had her V card like Donna. She'd done it with Dylan…at least a half a dozen times when she hadn't been drunk. The other half dozen times when she had been sloshed, she had made up lest people think she was too good and perfect.

Blue Oyster Pearl and Fawn Lilith walked up to her dressed in 1990s grunge style. She saw another girl with them who they introduced as Beulah Rose. Damn, what was it with all these cool and rocking names? First thing she had to do was go to Jim and Cindy and tell them she would no longer go by Brenda but something more appropriate…she just had to think of the perfect name. Maybe something like Tiger Willow or…Rose Fichus…no it had to be something much more perfect. She didn't know if Jim would go for it but maybe if she flattered up Cindy enough about her recycling program, she might get her to sign on for it.

"Cyrano's looking for you Brenda," Fawn Lilith said, "You must really be special to him."

Brenda didn't know about that but she knew she wanted to be. Looking at the wildly contoured Cyrano with his pierced ear and all those tats…she knew he was not just a bad boy wannabe like Dylan McKay, but a really bad man. Bad was the new cool after all and Brenda wanted as much of that as she could get. Kelly stealing her man had been the best thing that ever happened to her not the worst. She saw the leather codpiece that Cyrano wore over his…you know…she nearly blushed when she thought about it. Yet the codpiece that bore a dragon's head on it mesmerized her so that she couldn't look away from it. Looking at a man's groin other than in passing must be truly bad form but she couldn't help herself.

He walked over to her and embraced her kissing her on both cheeks like he was European. She could totally get into dating a foreigner as she'd tired of mere American boys like the aforementioned Dylan who right now was probably doing Kelly at Lookout Point. She tugged at the rainbow band she had around a wrist to snap it whenever she found herself thinking of her loser ex-boyfriend.

"Ouch…"

Cyrano blinked his dark eyes.

"Did I hurt you my sweet pea?"

She looked up into his eyes without blinking.

"Oh Cyrano you could never really hurt me," she said, "I know you've probably had women try to tame the bad boy inside you in the past…"

He just stared at her.

"What…?"

She rested her palms against his chest and she knew the intense bliss she felt right now could never be equaled.

"Give me a tour of this wonderful place."

He paused and then nodded.

"Okay but stick close to me," he said, "It can get intense even if you're not dropping acid."

She frowned.

"Acid…you mean you do that stuff?"

"Only when I'm creatively blocked," he said, "since the Euphoria doesn't do it for me anymore."

Euphoria…that hit Brenda like a punch in the stomach….after all this was what that evil Emily Valentine had spiked Brandon's drink with that night at the club. It had nearly driven her twin brother over the edge and he'd wigged out doing crazy ass things like make out with that prude Andrea until he crashed and burned.

But he'd sworn to never, ever do evil drugs like that again and to never allow himself to get seduced by another bad biker girl who harbored an insane streak. But Brenda had to admit only to herself that she'd been glad to see her perfect brother get knocked down a peg or two…so he'd be less than perfect. Evil to think that way and her parents would ground her for like ever if she ever revealed that secret but she was so tired of being treated as some fallen child because she lived in his shadow.

Now with Cyrano's hands branding her, she knew that she could be her true self without worrying about measuring up to the steep curve set by Brandon and away from her parents' oppressive handling.

Kelly put down the phone and looked at Donna. She'd left Dylan's car after he had brought her back to her place saying he had to hit the sack early. Some groovy waves were crashing in Malibu the next day courtesy of Typhoon what's its name. He hadn't even kissed her goodbye not even a peck on the cheek which meant that she did something wrong. She had just gotten in her own car to head to Donna's because she knew if she walked inside her own pad, she'd see Mel and Jackie…doing something so gross she'd have nightmares about it for the rest of her life.

Donna had been teary eyed when she arrived, her mascara trailing down her longish face and she'd been dressed in some frilly lingerie that Kelly wouldn't be caught dead wearing. She might has well paste her V card to her wide forehead and go out in public like that. The girl had decent fashion sense but no class when it came to realizing that girls who didn't put out often wound up alone.

David had just stomped on out of her house not long after she'd locked herself in the bathroom. After Donna came out, she told Kelly she'd thought about calling the teen crisis hotline for advice.

"Oh god no, Donna, what if you get Andrea," she said, "She'd pump you for details because as little as you're getting, she's getting even less."

Donna knew that she and Andrea were the only two students in the upper classes to still be virgins. But she also heard on the grapevine that Andrea had started seeing Steve which blew her mind.

"I need someone to talk to Kelly," Donna said, "This whole pledge before my parents and God is just going to drive me stir crazy. I wanted David so bad…"

Kelly's face twisted up.

"Eeeeewwwwwww…..David? Donna you can do so much better."

Donna got all defensive.

"I can't help it…he's attractive in a puppy dog way…and I just wanted to do him right on my bed."

Kelly sighed.

"What if your parents had walked in," she said, "You know your mother is the head of the Purity Council and would have sent you to some convent so fast your head would spin."

Donna pouted.

"Daddy wouldn't have ever let her do it."

Kelly had gone to pour themselves some of Donna's daddy's vodka into glasses and they both chug a lugged in Donna's bedroom. They both lie on the floor afterward, the world spinning around them.

"Kelly…"

"What Donna?"

"We need to have a slumber party," Donna said, "Just us girls…you me…Andrea…maybe even Brenda."

Kelly shook her head.

"We tried that and it just turned out to be so intense….we bore our souls to each other and then I found my date rape experience written on the bathroom wall the next day."

Donna shrugged.

"Could have been anyone…"

"I know it was Brenda," Kelly said, "She's just a deceitful little skank with her Midwestern superiority complex."

Donna paused.

"She's just going through a difficult time," she said, "It didn't help that you stole her boyfriend."

Kelly's claws came out.

"Donna, you little douche bag I so didn't steal her boyfriend," she said, "Bren closed up shop over some stupid pregnancy scare and you know how much Dylan needs it."

Donna sighed.

"But she was supposed to be your best friend…actually I'm supposed to be your bestie but you kind of dropped me for her like I was last week's underwear."

"I'm sorry about that," Kelly said, "I mean it…must have been some very temporary insanity."

"She's not a bad girl," Donna reasoned, "She's just going through a phase."

"She's dropped us to hang out with some weird crowd Donna and I'll never forgive her for that."

With that, Kelly got up and hit the vodka again, pouring herself another glass before downing it.

Andrea showed up at the club and went to the dressing room to change into her costume. She'd bought it off the rack at Fredericks of Hollywood after donning a disguise to walk into the swanky store. She didn't like what she was about to do but the scholarship money for Yale that she had expected to come pouring in, had only been a mere trickle. Her parents were totally strapped barely surviving in the dreadful valley and Grandma Rose had relegated her to sleeping in a closet.

She had gotten the job after hooking up with one of her grandmother's Canasta group. Andrea had been weeping bitterly on the stoop of her grandmother's house and Eugenia had taken pity on her plight. She'd slipped her a card and told her to show up for a job opening…and after Andrea promised to never tell Grandma Rose about it she'd done just that.

The man doing the hiring hadn't been all that impressed with her resume. It seemed that being a past chief editor of the Blaze had just led to her signing a blood oath that she wasn't going undercover. She'd gotten some fake ID and bumped her age two years. It didn't hurt that most people looking at her thought she was at least in her early thirties rather than high school age.

National Honor Society, head of the debate team and the school's community service ad hoc team hadn't helped her either but he'd taken pity on her and said he'd give her a trial run. So far she'd done just fine, taking to her job naturally and the tips had come rolling in…so much so she'd paid off her first semester of room and board at Yale.

But as she got dressed tonight and heard the raucous crowd outside, she got nervous. She thought her disguise prevented anyone from recognizing her but she could never be too sure. So far no one she knew showed up at her workplace. But it was only a matter of time and she had to be prepared for either a quick escape or an alibi. Lying came second nature to her due to the whole out of district thing so she didn't have to worry about that.

So she adjusted the feathers on her shoulders and got ready to walk out into the club. But just as she got ready to step up onto her pedestal she looked across the crowded room of men and her eyes widened as she saw him.

Steve Sanders.


End file.
